Onward Artist's Journey

The weekend's Artist Journey/Arthist Journal workshop was, again, a wonderful gathering.  We each made posters 9with many differnet sizes of prints to take away) of a slogan, motto or theme for the upcoming year. (Mine, above). With a spattering of writing exercises, some short meditation sittings, a bunch of great meals, and deep conversation about our acomplishments, challenges, work-in-progress and life in general, we left the workshop renewed and with direction and intention. What more can a teacher/facilitator ask?

The photos here are just a bit of our work. First, Pat's notice to herself:

JULIA'S MANIFESTO

My cool calendar, above (each made her own version).

Pat's artist trading card size verison of her SATISFACTION poster (as shown during production in a screen shot.) an

PS As a little subnote, anyone who wants more information about why I opposed the current legislation before Congress dealing with internet issues may want to watch this TED.com video explanation of the proposed legislation PIPA/SOPA:
http://www.ted.com/talks/defend_our_freedom_to_share_or_why_sopa_is_a_bad_idea.html

It looks as though the bills are tabled for the time being.

Fiber Art Exhibit in Round Top, Texas

I'm honored to be included in this year's Fiber Art Exhibit at Copper Shade Tree Gallery in Round Top. It's a fun daytrip from SA, Austin or San Antonio, so I hope many of you will be able to see the show, and hopefully attend the opening!

I have three pieces created specifically for the exhibit (as do all the other artists included). 

Gerald and Debbie run one of the most artist-friendly and collector-friendly galleries I know of -- so they deserve both a round of applause and an art-outing to visit. (PS: You can also visit the new Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange on the same outing if you go Thursday through Saturday.)

P.S. Loyal Reader Request

If you have time, go to this site and rank my blog! (This is my one-new-thing to try today. Read my One-New-Thing challenge tomorrow.)

http://craftpop.com/links/el_cielo_journal-2527.html

Rat-a-tattoo

Tattly from Made by Hand on Vimeo.

Ah, art is in the air. On the arm.  Art is everywhere.

I'm working on some street art/graffiti art ideas for activities for (of all things) and Air Force Summer Art Camp for teens next summer. In my strollings through the ether, I came across Tattly. I want these. They will be a line item in next month's budget for sure. If I regret anything about my age (and pain tolerance) its that I will never get a real tattoo. 

These temporary ones are even better than the real thing -- all I'm waiting for is a way to do this with my OWN designs!

P.S. Dear friends, I do this blog mostly for me -- recording in semi-public form the life in the studio (and the things that inspire that life). And you'll find odd, non-quilty and on-the-fringe sorta artful, artsy posts here too, like this one. But I am wondering, could you recommend me to your friends on FB or with a Tweet or just in a select email to someone you know likes to read art blogs? I have had the same 100 subscribers more or less for three years, and, although marketing my classes and my art is not the main purpose of the blog, it is one reason I use to justify the time spent.

I'd love to increase my readership, so if you can help and pass along the url (http://susiemonday.squarespace.com)

You and your friends can subscribe through FeedBurner or with your own RSS link by using the buttons and fill-in spaces on the sidebar.

Then leave your name in the comments block (with a way to get back to you electronically), I'll enter your name in a drawing for a package of genuinely delightly hand-designed and printed fabric scrapplets for your own creative use in collages, quilts and mixed media -- and I'll throw in a temporary tattoo, too. (Drawing will be on Jan. 31.)

On to Philadelphia!

I wish! If I could do anything and money were no object, well, I would be there at the joint SDA and SAQA Conference and FiberPhiladelphia coming up in a couple of months. I am waiting for a sign from the universe that money IS no object, but it hasn't come yet!

One nice thing, though. I will be represented by a piece of work in the Art Cloth Network exhibit LINES AND NUMBERS, a combined exhbit of two juried shows, one determined by size and the other by the placement of a line in the fabric composition. Its just a treat to see how each artist handled these challenges, and each work shows the strength and voice of each individual.

If you'd like to see more, Barbara Schneider, one of the Art Cloth Network's team who has made this show possible (along with Dianne Hricko and Judy Langille, in particular), you can order a catalog from BLURB here: 

Lines and Numbers Two Exhibitions by the Art Cloth Network Barbara J. Schneider

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2921362?utm_source=TellAFriend&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2921362

Barbara says:

If you go to this link (above) it will take you directly to our book. You have options then as to whether you want your copy to be soft cover or hardcover or with a dust jacket. The ones I ordered are black linen with dust jacket for $33.95 each plus shipping.  Soft cover is 22.95. I would not recommend the IMAGE WRAP hard cover. If you are planning to order before end of January they have a $10 off code NEWBK2012 if you spend over $50.  You can decide on shipping which reduces the cost of you don't need it ASAP.

Here's the piece I have in the exhibit (exhibit originally titled 24 by 90, juried by Els van Baarle).

This is a second piece inspired by the same sunny day walk by my neighbor's century tree agave, swarming with hummingbirds.

and here is a detail of the first:

Both of these pieces are available for sale, if you are interested send me an email!

Meanwhile: here's how they were done.

Both are adaptations of the process that I demonstrate in my QUILTING ARTS DVD "Mixed Media Textile Art," using screenprinting with multi-color printing, over stencils (the ironed on shapes of the agave and blooms and the shapes of the hummingbirds. I cut the design stencils, iron them onto the fabric (in this case a rather strange one -- blackout curtain material fused to poly felt). Then I color  a blank screen, using water-soluble crayons, that I  then lay over the stencil and screen print with polymer medium or screen-printing medium from Golden until the colors release and transfer to the fabric. The background of the piece is mostly done with just a blank screen using the same technique with a variety of different kinds of crayons, and added to with light acrylic textile paint washes. I then screen printed the little squiggly energy marks, kind of short hand for the movement of the hummers. The textured leaves were printed with a thermofax made from a microscophy image of leaf veins, and screened over the stencil of the agave leaf shapes.

If you'd like the basics about this technique, you can still buy  the DVD from Quilting Arts at:

http://www.interweavestore.com/Quilting/DVDs-Videos/Mixed-Media-Textile-Art-DVD.html

and see a sampler video at:

http://www.quiltingdaily.com/media/p/21091.aspx